


the problem of leaves

by LadyNyxRavus



Category: Epic (2013)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship, Lovers, this is mostly fluff, working myself up to proper smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-29
Updated: 2013-05-29
Packaged: 2017-12-13 09:23:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/822688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyNyxRavus/pseuds/LadyNyxRavus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Many leaves, one tree" is a fine enough motto for a Leafman. </p>
<p>It's a whole different matter when one is the fucking Queen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the problem of leaves

_Many leaves, one tree._  That’s what the Leafmen tell every new recruit and that is what becomes their motto.

But she hasn’t been a leaf for a long time.

“Many trees, one forest?” she tries one night when Ronin asks her why she cringes a little every time she hears him say it. “I’m not a Leafman – I’m the  _Queen_.”

“I know,” he says and he’s not smiling, he rarely smiles anymore, but he’s watching her and his eyes are bright like moonlight on the brilliant white blooms of her gown.

She’s frustrated and a little bit angry and it’s really fucking hard to be serene and calm all the time. She can feel the wind picking up – can feel Mandrake’s curiosity in that dark place in her mind where he resides because she is the heart of the forest and she can feel  _everything_. She curls her hands into fists and takes a very careful breath. The wind dies away and the creaking of the trees swaying as it goes is ominous and loud in the quiet that follows.

“Tara,” he says and she turns and he’s right there – moonlight bright eyes peering at her from beneath a heavy brow. He doesn’t say anything else – just her name – and pulls her hands up from where she’s clenching them at her sides to his chest. His hands are large and warm and he holds hers softly, gently twining their fingers, until she has them flattened against his chest and his heart beats a steady counter rhythm to the one in her heart and in her mind.

“I wish I could be a leaf, sometimes,” she says softly. “Remember when we were kids?”

His mouth opens as if to speak and she ruthlessly continues before he can say anything. With him as an anchor, her anger is her own. “I never asked to be Queen. I just wanted to be with _you_.”

He stills beneath her hands. His lips are pulled in a flat line and his hands clench around hers until it’s almost painful but she doesn’t pull away. No one touches her anymore – just the plants and they’re gentle and reverent – and it feels so  _good_  to have him there, digging points into her skin with his nails and pressing lines from his armour into her palms.

“Tara,” he says again and sighs, a slow faint smile touching his eyes and his mouth. She clings to his armour and wants to snarl at him – wants to keep that anger for just a little longer – but that smile has become her undoing because he never smiles anymore. “The leaf is still part of the forest.”

“You used to say we were part of the same branch,” she mutters and his hands are slipping to her waist and he is really taking this anchor thing too seriously. “I can’t be both.”

“You wouldn’t want to be,” he informs her. The denial rises sharp and hot in her throat and his eyes are moonlight and glinting and she can’t deny him anything. “There’s my girl,” he murmurs, mouth a hairsbreadth away, “there’s my  _Queen_.”

The wind swells and the trees creak and Ronin kisses her until she feels every inch of the forest – right down to the single Leafman standing before her. She chases his mouth when he tries to pull away and a laugh slips out and he doesn’t try to stop it. She murmurs, “there’s my boy, there’s that  _smile,_ ” and he kisses her quiet. 

**Author's Note:**

> ahahaha I'm crying fuck this movie and it's teasing me with these two


End file.
